Description

In 2006, four years after the illegal prison in Guantanamo Bay first opened, the Pentagon finally released the names of the 773 men held there, as well as 7,000 pages of transcripts from tribunals assessing their status as 'enemy combatants'. Andy Worthington is the only person to have analysed every page of these transcripts. Drawing on these documents, as well as news reports and interviews with lawyers and released detainees, this book reveals, for the first time, the stories of all those imprisoned in Guantanamo. This book does not make for easy reading. Deprived of the safeguards of the Geneva Conventions, and, for the most part, sold to the Americans by their allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the detainees have struggled for five years to have their stories heard. Looking in detail at the circumstances of their capture, and at the coercive interrogations and unsubstantiated allegations that have been used to justify their detention, 'The Guantanamo Files' reveals that the majority of those captured were either Taliban foot soldiers or humanitarian aid workers, religious teachers and economic migrants, who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The book also uncovers stories of torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, and contains new information about the process of 'extraordinary rendition' that underpins the US administration's 'war on terror'. Who will speak for the 773 men who have been held in Guantanamo? This passionate and brilliantly detailed book brings their stories to the world for the first time.show more

Review quote

This is an important book. If you care about our Government's complicity in these illegal and horrific acts then this book provides the evidence. Carefully researched and documented, it reveals a story of appalling brutality. The people are not mere ciphers but, as their stories unfold, their pain becomes our concern. -- Ken Loach Extraordinary rendition, false imprisonment, inhumane treatment ... has forever destroyed and reshaped the lives of hundreds of men, of whom I was one. The subject matter of this book is imperative, being the first of its kind to collate and describe accounts from the prisoners themselves and pitting them against the purported reasons for their incarceration - without charge or trial -- Moazzam Begg, former Guantanamo detainee and spokesman for CagePrisoners The [book] is a meticulous piece of documentation about torture. ... It recalls the age old story of the willingness of both governments and ordinary people to inflict pain upon each other for financial and political gain while exercising a misguided sense of power over those peoples perceived as inferior to themselves. This is an extremely vital and important piece of work. -- Marty Fisher, Co-Producer of Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side", a film about the U.S. torture activities in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraqshow more